


Courtyard Apocalypse

by legallyblack



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Courtyard, Hermione POV, The Battle of Hogwarts, ugh im sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:53:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27945602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legallyblack/pseuds/legallyblack
Summary: Hogwarts was burning, and so was she.The courtyard scene in the battle of Hogwarts, from Hermione's POV.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Kudos: 15





	Courtyard Apocalypse

**Author's Note:**

> Hey lovelies! So in this newest addition to the Bushy Hair and Bright Mind series, I wanted to try something different.
> 
> When reading this story, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE listen to "Courtyard Apocalypse" from the Deathly Hallows part 2 soundtrack. I promise, you won't regret it. 
> 
> I feel like Hermione's mind would have been so shaken during the whole battle, so here's a glimpse into one of the most tense scenes. 
> 
> (Includes both book and movie elements, but all canon.)

_May 2nd, 1998_

_2:24 a.m._

The school was burning.

And so was she.

Not physically no, but as they ran from the Room of Requirement, clothes, face, hair, and body scorched from Fiendfyre, Hermione could not help but feel ignited.

She watched as Harry shook the destroyed diadem from his wrist, watched as it fell, crumbled, to the ground. The second to last Horcrux, gone, but she didn’t feel happy.

But shouldn’t she? Had they not spent the last 9 months on the run, seeking out these _God awful_ items? 

But she knew. She knew it would be naive to hope so soon, and her fears were confirmed when she followed Harry’s train of sight: Death Eaters. In Hogwarts. 

“Bloody hell, Harry…” Ron stopped short.

“I know, we need to act quickly.” Harry looked utterly distraught, a feeling that Hermione only vaguely registered to as her own.

The three of them turned to see Fred and Percy fighting masked men. As she ran to help, their words became lost in the roar of the battle. What happened next was a blur.

She was thrown back with the force of an erupting wall. She felt her bones crack, the air knocked out of her lungs. As she and Harry staggered forward to help their second family, she watched in what seemed like slow motion as Fred fell back from the explosion. She saw his face, his _dead_ face, a smirk still eerily etched upon it. 

Fred was dead.

_Fred was dead._

She immediately found Ron’s face, searching his eyes for something, anything. He looked broken. 

Hermione immediately ran to him, not knowing what she would actually do when she reached. Then, she saw another body fly though the hole in the wall, and both Ron and Harry dived, tackling her to the floor. For one mad moment she thought they were death eaters in disguise, ready to kill her and end this nightmare. 

Only then did she see the curses being thrown above their heads. She heard Harry yell at Percy, something about moving. Percy wouldn’t move. She shakily got up and made to guard the mourning group from harm while Harry tried to convince Percy to get off of Fred’s body.

Not a moment after she had raised her wand, a gigantic spider came barreling through the hole in the wall, making its way right towards them.

She let out an involuntary shriek and raised her wand, but before she could get the spell out, two large jets of light soared past her, colliding with the spider, and blowing it back out of the hole. She turned on the spot and saw Harry and Ron, wands raised. 

Of course they hadn’t let down their guard, she realized; even the death of a brother didn’t stop a war. 

Harry shouted “MOVE” and began to run, pushing Hermione into Ron, who had an odd look on his face. Before she could open her mouth to question it, she saw Harry help Percy to lift Fred’s body from the ground. 

She grabbed Ron’s hand and ran down the corridor, dodging spells and blasts of light. They had almost made it to the end of the hall when she felt a pull at her arm. Ron was trying to run after Percy, who had gone to fight Rookwood. She quickly hid them behind a large tapestry. “Ron, Ron no- stop, you can’t-” But he wasn’t listening. His face was smeared with tears and smoke. His expression was both heartbreaking and terrifying. “Let go of me.” He growled. He was struggling harder than ever, and it took all the strength she didn’t know she had to keep him restrained to her. She spotted Harry a few feet away, and desperately called him over. 

“Harry, in here!”

Ron was attempting to push her off of him once more, and the tears filled her eyes before she could stop them. Every ounce of her wanted to let Ron go, to let him take out the grief and anger he felt on more than deserving Death Eaters. But she knew she couldn't. Not now.

“Ron, please” She whispered. He paused, finally making eye contact with her. 

Harry finally reached them, and helped her with Ron. There was an unmistakable look of guilt on his face, and as he pinned a shaking Ron to the wall, Hermione could see the tears threatening to fall from his eyes as well.

“I wanna help- I wanna kill Death Eaters-”

“Ron we need to get the snake. We’re the only ones who can end it. Ron, look at me, RON!” 

He finally did, stopping his struggle to slump into her arms. She turned to Harry. “Where is he keeping the snake?” She watched as he closed his eyes to look into Voldemort’s mind, as he had done so many times before. A few minutes later, he resurfaced with a gasp. “He’s in the Shrieking Shack.” 

Pure rage filled Hermione. The bastard who had caused all this was sitting idly by in a shack? 

“He’s not even _fighting?”_

“He doesn’t think he needs to fight. The snake’s with him. He knows I’m searching for Horcruxes. He knows I’ll come to him.” 

Ron, who had been staring blankly at the tapestry, suddenly looked up. “Right. You can’t go, that’s what he wants. You stay here and look after Hermione and I’ll go get it-”

But Harry cut him off. “No, you two stay here, I’ll go under the cloak…”

Hermione looked at him, blinking fast. “No, it makes much more sense if I take the cloak and-” 

Ron grabbed her arm, looking at her fiercely. “Don’t even think about it.” 

She looked at him. There were so many unsaid things. So many words she needed to express before they both inevitably died in this battle. He needed to know that the real reason she didn’t want him to go is because she didn’t know how she was supposed to live in a world without Ron Weasley, but now was not the time. She was about to open her mouth to speak when the tapestry ripped open. 

The death eaters saw Harry, but not her. She watched as they charged at him, wands raised, ready to shoot. _Think, Hermione, think._ She pointed her wand at the stairs and shouted “GLISSEO!” 

Before she could warn them the trio plunged down the now slippery stair case chute. She screamed as a Stunning spell flew right past her head. 

As they hit the bottom, she quickly threw a hardening charm at the bottom tapestry, effectively incapacitating the Death Eaters before they could reach them.

For the second time that night, both Ron and Harry grabbed her and pulled her back, barely missing a herd of walking desks. 

She braced herself, and ran.

  
  


They ran past fighters from both sides, too fast to stun anyone, but also too fast to be seen. 

If she thought running from Snatchers was bad, this was a whole new level of hell. 

Her feet ached as she pressed on, occasionally checking that both Ron and Harry were safe. They ran past Malfoy, Dean and Parvati. _Her classmates._ As she ran, she remembered the Gryffindor common room, warm and cozy and safe, students complaining about homework and crushes and Quidditch and-

The tears began to fall freely from her eyes as they climbed over fall statues, blasted rubble, and dead spiders. 

As they turned the corner her heart stopped.

She saw Greyback, teeth sunken into the neck of Lavender Brown. All the breath in her lungs vanished. How many times had she wished that Lavender could just disappear? How many times had she hated her for being with Ron? Of all the horrible things that Hermione had wished on Lavender, this was not it. Hermione raised her wand yet again.

“NO!”

The spell left her wand the second she thought of it. Greyback was blasted to the side, exposing Lavender, who was feebly stirring. 

_God, let her be ok, please please please let her be ok._

It took everything she had to keep from running to Lavender’s side, but just like with Fred, they had to move on. A sob was wrenched from Hermione as Ron grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the courtyard. 

Her jacket was singed black. The soles of her shoes were tattered. The number of cuts and gashes on her body were insurmountable. But still, she ran.

They entered the courtyard, where the air was filled with horrendous screams. Hermione’s heart dropped when she realized that she could hear children screaming. How had they been allowed to fight?

They dodged giants and falling debris, hiding behind a collapsed bell. They tripped over broken glass and crumbling archways. Hermione caught sight of Bellatrix, who was fighting a 14 year old girl whom Hermione had helped in charms last year. The scar on her arm tingled. She could feel the beginnings of what could only be a panic attack coming on. No no no no no. Not right now. Her breath turned shallow, her mind clouded over, her eyes fixed on the deranged woman in front of her. 

Ron stopped halfway across the battlefield, evidently noticing her absence. He followed her eyes to Bellatrix, and ran to her. 

“Hermione, look at me. We have to go. It’s gonna be ok. Hermione please.”

She was instantly reminded of herself saying these same words to him just 15 minutes ago.

She looked up at him, eyes wide. “For Harry” she whispered.

Ron smiled sadly at her, and nodded. “For Harry. Now come on.” She grabbed his outstretched hand and together they ran across the field, stumbling over bodies.

They joined Harry at the outskirts of the castle grounds, at the entrance of the Shrieking Shack, spending a few seconds catching their breaths. Harry looked at them and sighed. “Ok. I’ll be out in a minute. We just have the snake. The snake and then it’s just him.” 

Hermione grabbed his arm and opened her mouth, speaking harshly.

“Harry, we’re going with you. We’re never _not_ going with you.”

Harry looked at his two best friends, tears threatening to spill.

“O-ok them. I’ll go in first then.”

  
  
  


Hermione took one last look behind her at the castle. At night, it looked so majestic. She quickly realized that the blinding lights she had seen earlier were in fact fires. Half the castle had burned down or was actively burning. 

The weight of the battle hit her. Hogwarts, the place she’d always felt safest, the place where she had met her two best friends, learned magic beyond belief, and grown up, burning to the ground. She heard screams and shouts fill the air. Crying, curses, everything. 

As she swallowed her fear, she turned back to the entrance of the Shack, where Ron was waiting, a questioning look on his face.

  
  


Hermione nodded, and climbed under the Whomping Willow for the 3rd time in her life.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
